[dazmond]

oh yes I forgot to mention that.

My guys all work full time, 5 days a week and are out of the yard before 7am most days as we cover a huge area. 40 miles or more radius

How do you manage to start work at 7am on residentials - are your customers not still in bed  and it’s dark?

they probably dont start work at 7am,just leave the yard at that time,it might be another hour before they start.....8am....

[Shrek]

oh yes I forgot to mention that.

My guys all work full time, 5 days a week and are out of the yard before 7am most days as we cover a huge area. 40 miles or more radius

How do you manage to start work at 7am on residentials - are your customers not still in bed  and it’s dark?

I have few I do from 7am. They’re normally off to work at 7-30 ish and me in and out with the gate relocked before they leave   There’s always ambient light from the house

I used to start at 8, then a few years later it went up to 8:30 and now it’s 9! I really like starting at 9 now and finish later

[Lee Pryor]

Just think about the reality of that for 1 minute. Would they as a one man band be out for that long every day 5 days a week year round? I doubt it. I never was.

Your thinking from the point of view of someone that already works for themselves. Not everyone has that mindset and theres the difference.

Suppose one of them decides tomorrow to do that. How long before their earning what I pay them now? How will they survive in the mean time and so on.

[Lee Pryor]

oh yes I forgot to mention that.

My guys all work full time, 5 days a week and are out of the yard before 7am most days as we cover a huge area. 40 miles or more radius

How do you manage to start work at 7am on residentials - are your customers not still in bed  and it’s dark?

They start at 8am. As I said they leave the yard by 7 due to covering a big area.

[dazmond]

oh yes I forgot to mention that.

My guys all work full time, 5 days a week and are out of the yard before 7am most days as we cover a huge area. 40 miles or more radius

How do you manage to start work at 7am on residentials - are your customers not still in bed  and it’s dark?

I have few I do from 7am. They’re normally off to work at 7-30 ish and me in and out with the gate relocked before they leave   There’s always ambient light from the house

I used to start at 8, then a few years later it went up to 8:30 and now it’s 9! I really like starting at 9 now and finish later

you ll be starting at 930am and be done for 3pm in a few years and be earning more money than you do now......thats how its worked out for me.....

[Paul Wisdom]

If that is just window cleaning that is fantastic. I make a lot more doing the extras than cleaning windows. I actually prefer to slot a  gutter, drive, carpet clean job in each day if i can

It would blow my mind just cleaning glass every day no stop

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

Just think about the reality of that for 1 minute. Would they as a one man band be out for that long every day 5 days a week year round? I doubt it. I never was.

Your thinking from the point of view of someone that already works for themselves. Not everyone has that mindset and theres the difference.

Suppose one of them decides tomorrow to do that. How long before their earning what I pay them now? How will they survive in the mean time and so on.

I agree to a point but think of it like this-
they are out at 7am right now to line someone else's pockets, what better motivation than to do the same and keep all the gold.
They have already gained the knowledge of pricing structure and what is achievable. They could poach your work, do it for less and still be on a real winner.
You have already motivated them to a certain degree- to work their socks off for someone else for 30k they must be motivated.
They will know just how cheap it is to set up on their own- a year of hard work is certainly worth the end result.
None of this requires anything more than a tiny bit of common sense and motivation.

You do well to keep them and I agree about the mindset, I've seen it before but it must be very tempting knowing just how much wealth they are creating and handing a huge chunk over to someone else- particularly when they see that someone else's lifestyle/fancy car etc.


With the information you have made public I'm surprised the local competition haven't destroyed you! I wouldn't dream of posting what you do.

[Lee Pryor]

with all due respect you are simply just wrong. Because it hasnt ever happend.

As for local competition, good luck to them I say. They wont destroy me because none of them are me. I decided to do whatever it takes to be number 1, to be the biggest. I dont know a single person on here or anywhere else that is as obsessed as I am or as comfortable taking the sort of risks I have, spending the sort of money I do and so on. Show me someone else that would sell their house to grow their business. Frankly going through what I have in the last 3 years would have killed most people I know. Fact is I can now simply out spend any other company in the south. My yearly marketing budget this year is £100k far more than most even turnover never mind willing to spend.  One of my team sets up against me, I follow him taking a note of every customer address, then on the same day they all get a letter offering them 12 months free window cleaning. Game over. His round is gone overnight.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

I was gaining respect for you before that post. However, you've just shown what an idiot you can be!!
You are not yet proven, you have to sustain what you have achieved and you spill all the information anyone could wish for on public forums!

[dazmond]

once a customer finds a decent window cleaner they very rarely jump ship even if their price is higher than a lot of other window cleaners as long as their on longer frequency cleans(8 weekly,12 weekly,etc)....you can keep them for many years.....

[Dry Clean]

once a customer finds a decent window cleaner they very rarely jump ship even if their price is higher than a lot of other window cleaners as long as their on longer frequency cleans(8 weekly,12 weekly,etc)....you can keep them for many years.....

You would need to double your prices to make £80k a year, are you saying your reputation is so bad that you couldn't win their work at half the price ?

[james peters]

interesting reading
there are 2 types of business in this debate

1... the sole trader ..... can achieve great earning potential . anywhere between 30 -70k depending on location... maybe more with a little help of part time workers that are cash in hand .... also bear in mind that its a lot of cash jobs probably... never spoken of  (need I say more ? )
downfall to this .... ill health be it family or ourselves.... can really put a spanner in it!

2 ... what we all admire ! what lee pryor has done...
built a business , where he doesn't need to be hands on at all times ... he earns money whilst on holiday, or through ill health.
a well oiled machine ! a business that will earn more and can be sold for a lot of money!
downfall for this ?       I would imagine the journey to be extremely stressful at times  , and also sometimes lonely .... having to make the final decisions.

both are good . both have pros and cons ....
one thing I have learnt , and the hard way ...    happiness  comes in many different ways ... many of lifes pleasures are free, and on the whole its not our income that is the issue .
its our outgoings !

[Stoots]

interesting reading
there are 2 types of business in this debate

1... the sole trader ..... can achieve great earning potential . anywhere between 30 -70k depending on location... maybe more with a little help of part time workers that are cash in hand .... also bear in mind that its a lot of cash jobs probably... never spoken of  (need I say more ? )
downfall to this .... ill health be it family or ourselves.... can really put a spanner in it!

2 ... what we all admire ! what lee pryor has done...
built a business , where he doesn't need to be hands on at all times ... he earns money whilst on holiday, or through ill health.
a well oiled machine ! a business that will earn more and can be sold for a lot of money!
downfall for this ?       I would imagine the journey to be extremely stressful at times  , and also sometimes lonely .... having to make the final decisions.

both are good . both have pros and cons ....
one thing I have learnt , and the hard way ...    happiness  comes in many different ways ... many of lifes pleasures are free, and on the whole its not our income that is the issue .
its our outgoings !

That's good.

But there is also somewhere in the middle, the chap with 2-3 vans, a couple of staff and maybe does a couple of days himself.

A balance between having an income that's not entirely dependent on himself but without the hassle of a massive business.

[Bungle]

lol you lot need to start aiming a bit higher!

If I go to the reports page of cleaner planner and select revenue by user and select the date 1st jan 18 to 31st dec 18 here is what I see.

So not all of my team (10 cleaners) were with me for all of 2018 but from the ones that were here are their totals for the year. I will also say my staff all get 20 days paid holiday and all bank holidays off paid.

Andy £78,368
Chris £76,070
Danny £65,848
Dean £83,248
Luke £60,728 (he also had a month off extra when his wife was very sick)
Mike £74,623
Tom £72,660

I'd sack Danny. Danny is a slacker 😛

[KS Cleaning]

interesting reading
there are 2 types of business in this debate

1... the sole trader ..... can achieve great earning potential . anywhere between 30 -70k depending on location... maybe more with a little help of part time workers that are cash in hand .... also bear in mind that its a lot of cash jobs probably... never spoken of  (need I say more ? )
downfall to this .... ill health be it family or ourselves.... can really put a spanner in it!

2 ... what we all admire ! what lee pryor has done...
built a business , where he doesn't need to be hands on at all times ... he earns money whilst on holiday, or through ill health.
a well oiled machine ! a business that will earn more and can be sold for a lot of money!
downfall for this ?       I would imagine the journey to be extremely stressful at times  , and also sometimes lonely .... having to make the final decisions.

both are good . both have pros and cons ....
one thing I have learnt , and the hard way ...    happiness  comes in many different ways ... many of lifes pleasures are free, and on the whole its not our income that is the issue .
its our outgoings !

Do you have any understanding of sole trader?  Why would it have to be cash in hand if getting part time help?   
A sole trader can employ full time or part time employees.

[NWH]

I would imagine doing 70k a year to be p easy in the right area

I COULD do 1500 a week if I wanted to, full time Mon to Friday 7-8 hours a day and thats at "northern prices" of £10-£12 a house.  So what's that almost 70k a year for a 45 week year. .

When chaps talk of average prices of £20 or more surely they must be able to do £400-£500 a day solo? Vat threshold must be fairly easy to do in some areas at that kind of pricing.

Nail on the head hit here,that’s why it’s very hard for WCleaners that work in a certain area impossible to grasp.
If you are in a certain area the amounts mentioned above are hit regularly,as you say it’s all about price or average price not about whether you are doing 30-50 houses a day or not.

[NWH]

If I knew of 2 that didn’t want the hassle and responsibility genuinely I’d have them next week,I’ve had many over the years but they all have a different attitude.
To scale up a window cleaning business the people are more key to it than say a warehouse business where you would be able to get someone in to stack shelf’s and know what they are doing within days of starrying the job,it would be an achievement for someone to be able to get in a van and be able to drive and find my jobs without a problem this itself would take a long time. To a major extent after they have been able to do this you would be very beholden to them as like I say this  itself would take some doing.

[SB Cleaning]

with all due respect you are simply just wrong. Because it hasnt ever happend.

As for local competition, good luck to them I say. They wont destroy me because none of them are me. I decided to do whatever it takes to be number 1, to be the biggest. I dont know a single person on here or anywhere else that is as obsessed as I am or as comfortable taking the sort of risks I have, spending the sort of money I do and so on. Show me someone else that would sell their house to grow their business. Frankly going through what I have in the last 3 years would have killed most people I know. Fact is I can now simply out spend any other company in the south. My yearly marketing budget this year is £100k far more than most even turnover never mind willing to spend.  One of my team sets up against me, I follow him taking a note of every customer address, then on the same day they all get a letter offering them 12 months free window cleaning. Game over. His round is gone overnight.

Ok then big head

[John Mart]

If I knew of 2 that didn’t want the hassle and responsibility genuinely I’d have them next week,I’ve had many over the years but they all have a different attitude.
To scale up a window cleaning business the people are more key to it than say a warehouse business where you would be able to get someone in to stack shelf’s and know what they are doing within days of starrying the job,it would be an achievement for someone to be able to get in a van and be able to drive and find my jobs without a problem this itself would take a long time. To a major extent after they have been able to do this you would be very beholden to them as like I say this  itself would take some doing.

I’ve got three fantastic employees. I’ve gone through five in total and have never had any problems. Pay properly, give proper contracts and benefits and there are no problems. The ones that seem to have problems pay cash in hand.

[Richard Groves]

One of my team sets up against me, I follow him taking a note of every customer address, then on the same day they all get a letter offering them 12 months free window cleaning. Game over. His round is gone overnight.

I'm surprised you'd feel so threatened given the level of success you've achieved. I worked for someone years ago before setting up on my own. I was never out to set up against them or build an empire, just be my own boss with  hours to suit me, ultimately being in control of my own future. Out of interest what's the age range of the guys you have working for you ? do they have jobs for as long as they want them or only as long as they keep the pace and reach their targets ? Its inevitable they will gradually slow as they age, we all do. And what then ? when they wish to go solo  with their own small round because they're tiring of the long hours and pressure to keep the pace - you'd prevent them from doing so even though they had worked so hard for you helping you make your business the success it is . Think on that.